entry, I guess you could say it is just random, but I figure, I just made a huge profit on the long side, so it's probably time to go short
exit, once the pre defined target is hit, the profit gets taken, religiously, no matter how positive I feel about the position. The flipside, I've been so close to the target, sometimes just a few dollars, but if it doesn't get hit, no early taking. It can be a real bitch when you almost had it on Friday, and it pulls back, and you sit all weekend wondering, "Maybe I should have taken it early."
stops, they start out tight, but over time just naturally get larger and larger. Due to the fact of how strong the market moves against me. For instance, the first stop is tight on 25% of the position, so that one gets hit so now it is another tight stop on another 25%, but it's now twice as far from the original average price. on and on until I only have a 25% position on, then it trades with no stops, and I have already determined before I ever put it on that I can ride it all the way to zero.
and that brings us back to entry. Every position that has been stopped out has a corresponding stop to re enter if it ever starts moving back again my way, and no stop is ever moved, so if it moves hard against you, the stops to enter can be way the hell up there and in normal times will never be hit.
and keep in mind, the target is on the whole portfolio, within that portfolio you may have profits that are so large any normal thinking man would have taken them long ago, and also some very large losses. It's tempting to take that large individual profit, but then you screw up the whole deal.
